Alexander Praterski wrote in Gazeta Roux about Trump's violation of diplomatic norms during his surprise visit to Iraq and the new Washington game . 

"Trump's trip to Iraq on Wednesday, December 26 was a surprise, because the US president had previously planned to visit the US military unit in Afghanistan for security reasons. The timing of the scheduled flight has not been reported, " the article said.


After Trump's decision to withdraw US troops from Syria , which caused opposition to the Pentagon and led to the resignation of Defense Secretary James Matisse, Iraq remains the only Middle East center for the United States. 

This small number of troops is enough for small operations, but the reality of the presence plays a symbolic role. It gives US allies confidence that Washington still controls the situation in the region. 

As the US State Department's chief analyst at the Gulf State Analytics, Theodore Karasik, told Gazeta Roux, "Iraq remains important to the United States for several reasons, and above all because of mistakes in the past, there is a need to rectify the situation for the future: Iraq is a buffer zone between Syria and Iran . "

According to him, bases can be used in Iraq to carry out operations in Syria. However, Tehran and the reduction of the influence of the IRGC remains the "main objective". 

"From the point of view of the US regional positioning in the Middle East, Iraq has always been more important than Syria," said Yuri Parmin, an expert on the Russian Council for International Affairs. 

"If the United States complains that Iran has nothing to do in Syria, Iran has national security interests in Iraq," Parmin notes. "By containing Iran through Iraq, Not good for the United States. "